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MANILA, Philippines - At least 28 members of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Prospero Nograles have joined President Arroyo on her US trip upon her invitation.

The President and her entourage left yesterday afternoon on Philippine Airlines flight 116 bound for Vancouver, Canada. From Vancouver, the presidential party will take a charter flight to Washington, where she is to meet US President Barack Obama.

Included in Mrs. Arroyo’s entourage are her congressman son Diosdado of Camarines Sur, Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa, and Representatives Danilo Suarez of Quezon, Martin Romualdez of Leyte, Aurelio Gonzales Jr. and Anna York Bondoc of Pampanga; Vincent Crisologo and Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City; Antonio Alvarez of Palawan, Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City, Edgar Chatto of Bohol, Del de Guzman of Marikina, Felix Alfelor of Camarines Sur, and Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila.

Also in her delegation are Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and Ramon Durano IV of Cebu, Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas, Francisco Matugas of Surigao del Norte, Cecilia Suarez Luna of Abra, Zenaida Angping of Manila, Alvin Sandoval of Malabon-Navotas, Rachel Arenas of Pangasinan, and newly proclaimed party-list Representatives Rodante Marcoleta, Daryl Grace Abayon, Catalina Leonen-Pizarro, Godofredo Arquiza and Agapito Guanlao.

The party-list lawmakers have barely warmed their seats but are already traveling. Marcoleta, for instance, just took his oath of office on Tuesday night.

Several members of the delegation, including Sandoval, Arquiza and Guanlao, are bringing along their wives. Matugas is traveling with his daughter.

Villarosa, Romualdez, Arenas, Suarez, Mandanas, and a few others are constant companions of Mrs. Arroyo in her travels abroad.

House sources told The STAR that at least 20 other members of the chamber were tagging along with the presidential party. 

Members of the official family who joined the trip were Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde and acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

In high spirits

President Arroyo is pumped up for her first ever meeting with Mr. Obama, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said.

She has a clear vision of what she wants to accomplish before the end of her term in 2010 and she will enter into talks with Obama steeled by the fact that “the ship of state remains fundamentally strong,” Yap said.

He said that if opponents think Mrs. Arroyo will just coast to the end of her term, they are mistaken.

“The way I see it, things are actually going to accelerate because she will be pushing to finish a lot of her projects,” Yap said in Washington.

“The fact that President Obama sought out the Philippines for this historic opportunity is a testament to the strong and deep ties between our two nations,” Mrs. Arroyo said in her pre-departure speech.

Filipino and American officials expect security and terrorism to be at the top of the Arroyo-Obama agenda. Other issues could include greater market access for each other’s products, climate change, Myanmar and regional security issues.

Asked at a news conference if there are any discussions between the US and the Philippines about taking prisoners from Guantanamo, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters “it’s not in my guidance, but we’ll certainly give you a readout as to whether or not that comes up” as part of the Arroyo-Obama talks.

The US government has been trying to farm out to friends and allies some of the terrorism suspects it holds at Guantanamo naval base as part of Obama’s pledge to close the prison camp at the base by the end of the year to repair America’s tarnished image abroad.

Yap dismissed the opposition’s continuing speculation about Arroyo’s political future as “mindless games because there is a constitutional injunction for her to step down in 2010.”

“That is the law and she will subscribe to that,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned she has said there will be elections and she will step down. She can’t say it any clearer than that,” Yap told The STAR on Tuesday.

Yap said he will meet his US counterpart, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and seek US funding for a $120-million facility in the Philippines to assist the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in accelerating the field testing of “climate-ready seeds” adaptable to climate change.

“Climate change is wreaking havoc on our planting schedule. We need seeds that don’t need too much water and seeds that have short gestation periods,” he said.

There was also need for a remote sensing and geographic information system.

He said he would not take up the specific issue of rice with Vilsack because “we have government-to-government transactions in place, we are getting from the open market and our rice production is growing.”

But he said he will ask Vilsack if the US could expand the GSM 102 program and include more commodities “as it’s a good lifeline for us.”

The 102 program promotes sales of US farm goods to developing countries by assuring lenders they will get paid even if a borrower defaults.

The Philippines used $75 million in GSM credit guarantees last year to buy US rice.

This year the Philippines’ rice imports are expected to drop to 1.5 million metric tons from 2.3 million MT in 2008 because of higher production and more stocks, Yap said.

“Even if you add the private imports this year of 200,000 MT that will put national imports at only 1.7 million MT and yet we have added 1.8 million new mouths to feed,” he said.

The government has a rice stockpile of more than a month and the country’s national inventory is close to 90 days, he said.

Normally the government stockpile does not go over 40 days and at this time last year the stockpile was 28 days, Yap added.

Terrorism high on agenda

Mrs. Arroyo said that combating regional terrorism will dominate her talks with Obama in the White House.

She said the meeting comes “at a pivotal time for US relations in Asia” and she will also use it to discuss the economic crisis and climate change.

Still, she said peace and security will top the agenda, “particularly in the light of the recent Jakarta bombings.”

Suicide bombers blew themselves up in two hotels in the Indonesian capital on July 17, killing seven people and wounding more than 50.

Mrs. Arroyo said she will discuss US military training of Filipino soldiers in the south, where American troops have been providing intelligence and humanitarian support to efforts to eradicate the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

Separately, the government has been trying to restart talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Just as important, the US has been a key ally in advancing soft power by helping build schools, roads and bridges and building up our economy through US development assistance,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President pointed out that the US plays an essential role in the Philippines’ economic, diplomatic and national security.

“We plan to ensure that these objectives remain front and center and on track between our two nations,” she said.

Reminder for Obama

But her meeting with Obama won’t be without controversy. A group of senior opposition leaders published yesterday an open letter to Obama, urging him to be “mindful of Ms. Arroyo’s legacy of corruption, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, bribery, election cheating, among others.”

Human rights groups have criticized the Arroyo administration for human rights violations in its fight against communist and Muslim insurgencies – charges the government denies.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde called the letter “black propaganda,” but said the President was willing to address the issues.

“The real audience of that letter was not really Barrack Obama but the Filipino public, otherwise, if that was intended for Barrack Obama, that should have been formally communicated, not in a paid full-page newspaper ad,” Remonde said.

“Therefore, it is clear that letter is another attempt at besmirching and black propaganda against her,” he added.

By Jess Diaz and Jose Katigbak
The Philippine Star
Updated July 30, 2009 12:00 AM